Long time since I've been at the blog (Facebook keeps me busy). I've got a lot to catch you all up on in wonderful (yet economically challenged) Latvia, but felt compelled to write about this morning's event since so many here are fiscal conservatives at Right Nation.

Republicans Abroad hosted a conference call today at noon (EET) with Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. While I have heard of Mr. Norquist and ATR, I wasn't aware or how involved--or connected--in the conservative community he is. He also worked with Newt Gingrich and the Heritage Foundation on the "Contract with America". That's a lot of cred. Here's an video interview with Charlie Rose that I watched to get some quick idea of how he thinks.

Anyway, while googling to read any published recent articles to have as a reference in case he referred to them, some very disturbing information came up.

In 1997, Norquist and lawyer David Safavian founded a lobbying firm, the Merritt Group, later renamed Janus-Merritt Strategies (sometimes referred to as "Janus Merritt" or simply "Janus"). Over the next five years, the firm's clients included international companies, Indian gaming interests, the government of Pakistan and the government of Gabon, and the American Muslim Council and Abdurahman Alamoudi, a fierce supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah.On July 30, 2004 Abdurahman Alamoudi, pled guilty to three charges of illegal dealings with Libya, after admitting that he participated in a plot to murder Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah for Muammar al-Gaddafi and accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from top Libyan officials, in addition to tax and immigration violations. He was sentenced to 23 years in jail. Senate disclosure reports on file show that for years Janus-Merritt registered as a lobbyist for Alamoudi. In 2002, Janus-Merritt was sold to the firm Williams Mullen. Norquist has refused to release tax records of the firm for the period during which he and Safavian owned the company.

WTH?

I then ran across this:

Quote

When asked by Washington, D.C.-based journalist Dave Sperry if he had converted to his wife's faith, Norquist brushed the question off as "too personal"

When I saw this quote, I went down to see which publication Dave Sperry works for and found this under support references/links:

Quote

^ Glazov, Jamie (April 12, 2005). "Infiltration". FrontPage Magazine. David Horowitz. http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read....3-920D68945F3D}. Retrieved 2009-02-28. "GOP operative Grover Norquist [is] an agent of influence for Islamists...He's marrying a Muslim, and when I asked Norquist if he himself has converted to Islam, he brushed the question off as too "personal.""

Okay, I hugely respect David Horowitz so then went over to read the entire article and found this: A Troubling Influence. Here's part of the intro (go to link for entire piece):

The article you are about to read is the most disturbing that we at frontpagemag.com have ever published. As an Internet magazine, with a wide circulation, we have been in the forefront of the effort to expose the radical Fifth Column in this country, whose agendas are at odds with the nation’s security, and whose purposes are hostile to its own. In his first address to Congress after 9/11, the President noted that we are facing the same totalitarian enemies we faced in the preceding century. It is not surprising that their domestic supporters in the American Left should have continued their efforts to weaken this nation and tarnish its image. Just as there was a prominent internal Fifth Column during the Cold War, so there has been a prominent Fifth Column during the war on terror.

Alamoudi’s arrest is part of a larger Justice Department investigation of terrorism funding focused on Saudi-backed Islamic foundations and businesses based in Herndon, Va. (Alamoudi is also responsible for founding the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs Council to “certify Muslim chaplains hired by the military,” including Capt. James “Youssef” Yee — charged last week with taking classified information home from Guantanamo Bay.) A so-called “moderate,” Alamoudi is on record praising the terrorist group Hezbollah and proclaiming: “We are all followers of Hamas.”

Norquist’s lobbying firm is registered as a lobbyist for Alamoudi. Alamoudi provided seed money for Norquist’s Islamic Institute, which shares space with Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform group. The institute is run by Alamoudi deputy and former AMC government relations director Khaled Saffuri. Saffuri and Norquist have worked closely with Bush senior adviser Karl Rove to give radical Muslim activists access to the White House. No doubt because of their efforts, Alamoudi was invited to a White House prayer service after the Sept. 11 attacks.

If any Democrat activist had such shady connections, conservatives would be on him like white on rice. Instead, Norquist has gotten away with smearing his critics — most notably, former Reagan official Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy, one of the most decent and patriotic Republicans I’ve had the honor of meeting — as hatemongers.

Looks like there's plenty to question about Grover Norquist. I kick myself for not sitting down sooner to look up this guy to have a good question ready, but just didn't have time to ask anything with any depth that would require an answer--rather than an outright dismissal-- without embarrassing the host from RA Singapore.

For more disturbing reading, you can just google this: islamist institute grover norquist

4 Comments On This Entry

I dropped a line to an also very conservative "connected" friend today asking about how those in the big-league conservative circles view this guy. Got this answer back:

Quote

I’m afraid the stuff on Norquist is accurate. It’s disturbing to many people
here because a number of his positions, as you note, are very sound. But
he has a very strange side. Knowledgeable people appear to limit their
contact with him to tax issues, and ignore the rest.